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Sunday, 3 March 2013

Needles - Tools of my Craft - DPNs

Today I want to look at DPNs - Double Pointed Needles - You know the ones that look awfully complicated and are always used in sets of four or five to knit socks, gloves and even sleeves.

I must admit my favourite material for these are my Bamboo needles, light weight and so handy to use.

But that said if I am knitting a bag to felt, I always grab my KnitPro Acrylic DPNs to hand.Which DPNs do you prefer?Do you use 4 or 5 needles?I would love to hear from you.Do come by tomorrow where I will be talking about Circulars - my favourite kind of needle and will be offering you an AWESOME Give-Away Opportunity!!See you thenx

6 comments:

I have to confess I have been a little scared about DPNs. I have some, but have rarely used them. I am always anxious about droping sts... Last year I learned to use the circular needles, and I am in love with them. Maybe I will feel the same with the DPNs when I give them a fair chance...

Hi Ana,I also was a bit anxious when I used them for the first time, but now I really enjoy using them and can often knit much quicker on them than on others. I find that is the first initial row that used to give me a headache, but I have worked out a system so that I don't twist my stitches and am now they work really well :)If you prefer the circulars though, I would suggest that you use them instead and if you can do the Magic Loop you can do almost anything on them :)Thanks for visiting.x

I love dons and knitting in rounds. My favourites are the metal ones. I don't like the points of the bamboo needles as they split the yarn. Have a nice Sunday. There is sunshine at your place I guess. We are less fortunate. :-)

Hi Regula,Yes, I have had that the tips split on occasion and it can be quite bothersome, but I love the feel of them to metal needles, and they make less "Clickety, Click" if you know what I mean ? :)I hope you also have a wonderful Sunday, no sun for us though, we are in the middle of the clouds today!Thanks for visiting.x

I recently discovered the 'magic loop', do you know it? it's for knitting small things in the round on circular needles, thus it can replace dpn's. This appealed to me as my main grippe with dpn's was that 'one' that I was not using would always slip out! and I always ended up loosing one!! I suggested to the lady in the yarn store that maybe she could open a pkt and sell them individually, for people who always 'lost one', she said that no one else has ever requested buying one dpn!!! However I have now returned to dpn's (metal) in favor of the magic loop as I find that they make my work neater, I just have to be a bit more careful about loosing them! I think I will get some in bamboo or bouleau, maybe they won't be so slippery. Enjoy your sunday, I'm going cross-country skiing with the kids, my husband is across the border in your country (cross-country competition).

Hi Emma,I wonder what the lady at the yarn store thought LOL, I would have loved to be there! I don't think that was a strange request at all, rather quite a far-sighted one, that would have been nice had that been the policy. Like what Regula said about the Bamboo tips of the DPNs, it would be nice if I could go and replace just the one I have to throw away because of the split ends instead of buying a whole pack of them each time!

Yes, I do know the magic loop and try to use it on occasion, but I feel like you do about the DPNs, my work just looks neater when I use them to knit a sock for example.Thanks for visiting, enjoy your ski-day :)x

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